Mini-DVD

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I asked the question, on another site, if there was anything we could do with projects being done now so that in the future the file could be used for authoring to DVD later when that action came down to consumer level pricing.

No answers - but I then found a site, URL given on this forum, that covered the subject and called it Mini-DVD. DVD on a CD-R or CD-RW based on half size D1 or the same frame format as vcd but in mpeg2. Currently no consumer level dvd player will play mini-dvd so whats the point of going thro' the process?

The LSX encoder version 3 includes a very good option for variable bit rate and the same source avi for a vcd encoded in VBR mpeg2 is a great improvement on vcd when played to the computer screen from a CD-R without an enormous increase in file size. The result is that I can make a 30 minute vcd for the dvd player and a VBR mpeg2 of the same source file for better playback on the computer on the same CD. The cyberlink PowerPlayer recognises it as a dvd and provides those additional options of proper fast forward etc etc associated with dvd, even without a computer dvd player, just an old 24x or 6x CD player.

The question is therefore, is there anyone out there who can give some simple instructions or a site that gets down to the basics of what goes into the header, GOP's etc etc at the encode stage. OR is that part of the authouring program? From memory the LSX default setting is for 1 GOP at the start! It seems to me, still, that one can prepare for the future use of DVD NOW without having to re invent the wheel later!

Any comments would be appreciated.

-- Ross McL (rmclennan@esc.net.au), October 13, 1999

Answers

Ross, your point is very interesting, and I think that most of us "VideoCDers" feel very troubled when comes the time to delete the original AVIs, because of course the quality is far better than that of VCD. IMHO there are actually two ways; you either store in a non-standard format (e.g. MPEG1 with increased resolution and bitrate) or you may want to store in a DVD standard (Mpeg2-MP@ML) in order to make a true DVD tomorrow, when the technology becames available at a reasonable price. I understand that LSX v3 do both.

About the site, although "www.mpeg.org" hasn't many technical info itself, it's certainly linked to it. Bye!

-- Matias (petrellm@telefonica.com.ar), October 19, 1999.


Matias

Thanks for the reply and the lead into an informative site.

Yes your quite on the ball about the decision to delete the avi file and this is made even worse when the same product must end up on tape and there is no room to hold both avi's on the hdd.

I have been experimenting with an MP@ML mpeg-2 master. I was amazed at the playback performance on the computer of a variable bit rate mpeg-2 for not a large increase in file size over vcd mpeg-1. Some interesting results.

The LSX encoder version 3 allows a lot more to be done with mpeg than version 2.51 and the Panasonic encoder will basically encode from any source to mpeg-1, so with that, vcd's could be made from a mpeg-2 master at sometime in the future or hopefully a true dvd. Interesting idea!

I notice video specifications on the dvd site lists Mpeg-1 SIF (what ever sif stands for) as an acceptable code and since LSX has that option in version 3 the horizons may be extended after more experimentation.

Thanks a lot.

-- Ross McL (rmclennan@esc.net.au), October 19, 1999.


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